Advertising

Quote Sheet

Quote Sheet | How the Bills are preparing to slow down Cleveland's playmakers

Nate Mendelson

Contributing Correspondent

Cornerbacks Levi Wallace and Tre'Davious White walk out for Buffalo Bills practice at One Bills Drive, November 6, 2019. Photo by Sara Schmidle

1. Bills defense preparing for another dynamic running back

The Browns are adding Pro Bowl running back Kareem Hunt into their lineup this week to compliment Nick Chubb. Hunt hasn't played a snap since 2018 with Kansas City. Hunt adds another threat against a Buffalo defense that has recently struggled against the run.

"Obviously when you have a talent like that, they're probably going to try to insert him in some kind of way," Lorenzo Alexander said. "I don't know how much we're going to see of him with Chubb but I'm pretty sure they've seen that we struggle with some of the '20 fast' stuff, when you have two backs in the backfield, and try to use some of those similar runs to make sure that we got it fit up right. But [Hunt] is a guy that they're probably going to insert in doses here and there."

Advertising

Buffalo's secondary will be tested by the likes of Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr on Sunday. They're likely the top wide receiver duo Buffalo has faced all season.

"They're both good receivers, they're both number one receivers," cornerback Levi Wallace said. "I think it just comes down to defensive backs have to know what to do. Try to minimize as much as we can because they're great athletes and Baker likes to get them the ball a lot, so we need to know where they're at and what they like to do and how they're going to scheme against us."

The key to Buffalo's secondary has been communication. Wallace is confident Buffalo can contain them with Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer's experience.

"You know that's our goal to be 100%. No errors and always communicate especially with guys like Hyde and Poyer in the back end with seven-plus years they've seen just about everything," Wallace said. "They've seen these guys plenty of times so just listening to them and figuring things out as we go along."

Josh Allen continues his gauntlet against every 2018 first round quarterback taken with Baker Mayfield this week.

"I got to meet him and know him during the draft process," Allen said. "He's a very competitive dude and he's going to be bringing that fire on Sunday. At the same time as much people want to talk about that type of matchup, you know I'm not playing against Baker Mayfield. It's the Bills playing against the Browns and our offense versus their defense. That's what we're focused on this week."

4. Nsekhe preparing for Myles Garrett

Myles Garrett is second in the NFL in sacks. He'll mainly line-up against the right tackle and provide a challenge to Ty Nsekhe and Cody Ford.

"He's a complete player. He's got speed and power," Nsekhe said. "He's got good hands and that in itself makes it a difficult task. Just to be able to go out there and shut down multiple facets of pass rush you know that can be a tall task."

Nsekhe played every snap last week against Washington and is confident if his number gets called again this week.

"I feel good. I'm capable of starting when my number is called and it's good to go out there and be able to run around all day, especially when you can go out there and get the win against your old team," Nsekhe said.

5. Buffalo defense is confident in one-gap scheme.

Buffalo's front seven is confident in its one-gap scheme to stop the run.

"One person to mess up, that's all it takes to get a big run," Jordan Phillips said. "You just got to trust each other and know that your teammates are going to be in the right place."

"We're still one of the top defenses in the league, we have been for a few years," Phillips said. "And it works. It worked when Sean was in Carolina and it works here. With that we have a lot of trust in each other, we know what we have to do and most of the time we're there. Just one or two plays, those are the ones that get out and those are the one that could kill you."

The browser you are using is no longer supported on this site. It is highly recommended that you use the latest versions of a supported browser in order to receive an optimal viewing experience. The following browsers are supported: Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.